A Strategy-Shattering Act
If Jesus meant for his followers to rule the world, then why did he teach them to wash feet?
It really is one of the most powerful images in all of the gospels and it would be hard to overstate it.
The Son of God—the one who was in the beginning, who was with God and was God, who spoke all things into being—knelt before his disciples, took their dirty, calloused feet into his hands, and washed them.
Sometimes Jesus spoke in parables or delivered metaphors to make a point. This is not a parable or a metaphor. This is real. The incarnate Christ, in the flesh, assumed the posture of a servant. The master washed the feet of the students. The rabbi knelt before his followers. The king took the form of a slave.
Everything about this is upside down. Or maybe, everything else has been upside down all along, and Jesus is setting things right.
Peter tried to note the disparity of the moment. He was uncomfortable with the reversal, unsettled by the intimacy. But Jesus insisted. Unless I wash you, you have no share with me. In this way, it was certainly not meant to be just an example. Something is actually happening in the moment.
So it’s about more than just clean feet. This is about surrender. This is about receiving grace, even when it feels uncomfortable, even when we don’t understand it.
And it’s also about what comes next. Jesus is not just showing love—he is setting a pattern. I have given you an example: You should do just as I have done for you.
If the Lord of all creation kneels to serve, how could we not do the same? If Jesus is willing to wash the feet of the ones who will betray, deny, and abandon him, how can we withhold love from anyone?
The power of this image is not just in what Jesus does, but in what it calls us to become.
Barbara Brown Taylor ponders, “If Jesus meant for his followers to rule the world, then why did he teach them to wash feet?”
John 13:1-11
Before the Festival of Passover, Jesus knew that his time had come to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he loved them fully.
Jesus and his disciples were sharing the evening meal. The devil had already provoked Judas, Simon Iscariot’s son, to betray Jesus. Jesus knew the Father had given everything into his hands and that he had come from God and was returning to God. So he got up from the table and took off his robes. Picking up a linen towel, he tied it around his waist. Then he poured water into a washbasin and began to wash the disciples’ feet, drying them with the towel he was wearing. When Jesus came to Simon Peter, Peter said to him, “Lord, are you going to wash my feet?”
Jesus replied, “You don’t understand what I’m doing now, but you will understand later.”
“No!” Peter said. “You will never wash my feet!”
Jesus replied, “Unless I wash you, you won’t have a place with me.”
Simon Peter said, “Lord, not only my feet but also my hands and my head!”
Jesus responded, “Those who have bathed need only to have their feet washed, because they are completely clean. You disciples are clean, but not every one of you.” He knew who would betray him. That’s why he said, “Not every one of you is clean.”
Psalm 24:3-6
Who may ascend the mountain of the Lord? Who may stand in his holy place? The one who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not trust in an idol or swear by a false god. They will receive blessing from the Lord and vindication from God their Savior. Such is the generation of those who seek him, who seek your face, God of Jacob."
Prayer
God,
I’ve got to tell you…things are far from the washing of feet at the moment. At least, it seems so in the fray of what’s being noticed in the world right now.
So in the midst of it all, I want to imagine believe that there are people washing one another’s feet right now, it not literally, in spirit and action. Call me to it and help me through it. Shape my life according to service and humility.
By your spirit & in Christ,
Amen.